


Brief Encounters

by BlueMotherLion3124



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kid Arthur, Kid Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Kid Mithian (Merlin), Pining, some small angst, very brief i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29035248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueMotherLion3124/pseuds/BlueMotherLion3124
Summary: Two different times, Mithian can remember meeting Arthur. Now she is to marry him. She wonders if he even remembers her.
Relationships: Mithian/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16
Collections: Merlin Bingo





	Brief Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is my first Arthur/Mithian (Arthurian) fic! I hope that y'all enjoy it!
> 
> Thank you so much for my betas rumi and merlinstansalways! Y'all were tons of help, and I love both of you❤️ And a big thank you to mordredsbitch who helped me with the title! Thanks bean!
> 
> For Merlin Bingo prompt: Arthur/Mithian

The first time Mithian met Arthur was at a ball in Camelot. She doesn’t remember what exactly they were celebrating since she was only 6 summers old, and no one really told her. She remembers meeting the then child prince when her and her father were greeted at the start of the feast. She remembers thinking that the prince was very aloof for someone his age (the same as hers) when he bowed and gave them a monotone greeting. 

Some time later during the ball, Mithian remembers seeing the young prince talking to an older girl (who she would later learn was King Uther’s ward the Lady Morgana). He didn’t appear aloof or indifferent with her. Quite the opposite. With her, Arthur had on a mischievous smile as the two of them lowered their heads closer to the other as if they were conspiring against the whole court. Mithian couldn’t help but feel a little left out as she was the only other child there, and the two noble children kept to one another.

Mithian decided that she did not like Arthur Pendragon from that day on.

* * *

The second time Mithian saw Arthur was for a treaty signing.

Caerleon and Camelot had recently fought a war with each other, and Camelot came out victorious. To ensure the treaty was made out of good favor and neither kingdom was at a disadvantage when they went to sign the treaty, Nemeth, one of the other five kingdoms, volunteered itself as neutral ground. And so, both Camelot and Caerleon were welcomed into its palace to compromise and create a treaty between the two without any trouble. 

Mithian wasn’t present for much of the meetings held to both form and finalize the treaty since most of her lessons were during that time, but she was able to witness some of it. She was there when her father went to greet them. It was a standard, formal greeting, one she has seen done for plenty visiting royals and nobles. A quick shake of the hand, the two kings shared a brief nod of respect, and then her father gave a warm welcome while he ushered their servants to take care of the visitor’s belongings. 

Arthur had joined his father, King Uther, for the signing as his father had claimed “would be a good example on how to create a beneficial compromise.” Whatever that meant. From what Mithian had seen, compromises were almost never beneficial, and just ended up postponing the inevitable. So, for this to be a beneficial one she assumed it must be one-sided. Of course she was never able to give her opinion on such things anyway, being too young, and this treaty not really concerning her, as her father liked to tell her.

The only time she would actually see all visiting royals was at dinner. King Caerleon, who was named after his kingdom as was his father before him and so on, kept to himself and ate aggressively while his wife, Queen Annis, would roll her eyes and eat her food with greater grace than Mithian’s etiquette tutors. King Uther was a loud eater. Loud in that he always made sure he was heard, always made sure he told the most stories, and always kept her father’s attention and entertainment. Honestly, Mithian found it exhausting and would always wish for the dinners to speed up.

Ironically, Prince Arthur was the opposite of his father. He kept to himself, barely said a word unless prompted by Uther, and ate quietly. He wasn’t the same aloof six year old boy Mithian briefly remembered at that ball years before. He was still reserved and Mithian couldn’t blame him. Here he was in a new place and the only person he truly knew was his own father. From how Arthur greeted her at their arrival, she assumed that he didn’t remember her.

However, there was something different about this Arthur. Reserved as he was, he held his own ground and kept his head held high. It was curious.

Mithian remembers asking Arthur about Camelot on the fourth day they were there. She was growing tired of only hearing Uther’s voice echoing around the dining halls, and since it would be impolite for her to leave this early (although dinner has already gone on for an hour), Mithian decided to try and make a conversation with the young prince. They were both the same age. Surely, there must be something they shared the same interest in.

“So…” _Excellent start, Mithian, very regal, very proper._ “How fares Camelot? I heard that your woods are lovely for horseback riding.” _Good, nice save there._

Arthur stared at Mithian a little bit, his fork of venison half-raised and his mouth partly open. Mithian tried not to fidget in her seat. Her tutor always had to tell her to sit still. _Fidgeting is not a ladylike thing to do, Princess Mithian,_ he would remind her, _a lady must keep her back straight, legs closed and be as still as stone,_ and she would huff indignantly in response. 

“I...guess the woods are nice.” Oh good, he said something. “Usually, I go out with the knights on patrols or hunts.”

That’s right. Boys his age were squires. Out there with the knights, learning how to protect and fight with a sword.

Must be nice.

“Have I offended you?”

Mithian blinked. Arthur was frowning at her, his fork that still held the roast venison lays ignored on his plate.

“Oh, no,” Mithian somehow sputtered out, “you haven’t done such a thing. What makes you think so?”

“You….frowned when I mentioned hunting? Do you not like it? I can understand why. It might be a bit too gruesome for--”

“No, Arthur, you got it all wrong!” It was quite the opposite, but as far as Mithian has been taught, ladies are not allowed to hunt. Doesn’t mean she can’t help but feel envious of him. They are both the same age and yet there he is, already learning how to hunt and fight like an honorable knight while she stays cooped up in her etiquette lessons. 

She didn’t mind her lessons, sometimes she quite liked them. The problem was she also wished to be taught the same things that squires were taught at this age. She wished that she could both be a lady and a knight at the same time. Maybe that was her problem. She wished for too much. She wishes for the knowledge of everything around her, naively thinking that she could somehow grasp it all and have nothing hidden from her.

“I was just...it was not the hunting that upset me…” _Come on, Mith! Think of something, anything!_ “I was merely...confused that you are...already going out with the other knights on patrol at such a young age.” _Brilliant. Good thinking._

“Oh.” Arthur furrowed his eyebrows. “Well, I can see where the confusion might come from. Usually, squires start to go out on patrol until two years after they began. Of course, Father thought it best that I get a head start since I will one day lead them.”

Mithian nodded along as Arthur starts to tell her about all the stories he had from his hunting trips, and Mithian couldn’t help but smile as she noticed the prince loosen up more as he continued to talk. And when Arthur had finished his adventures, Mithian then told him about her own. She told him about her handmaiden who got frightened by everything and almost attacked a guard when he came up behind her. She told Arthur about the time she outsmarted her tutor by hiding in the maze garden just so she could avoid her studies and teach herself how to fight.

The dinner ended (about six hours later) on a jovial note despite King Caerleon’s grumblings. For once, Mithian didn’t feel as exhausted as she usually was for these dinners. She felt spirited and cheerful as if she had just woken up from a marvelous rest and was prepared for what the day held. However, it was very late in the evening and guessing by the moon’s height, it was closer to midnight. 

Mithian and her father had bid the nobles a good night and then went off to their chambers to get a good night’s sleep. She remembers falling to sleep feeling warm and with a huge grin on her face. That one dinner still likes to come out and replay those past events. Even after years of seeing him, she would reminisce about the two of them sharing stories of their life. 

On the fifth day, both royals of Caerleon and Camelot were set to leave. Mithian had wanted to say goodbye to Arthur, to at least make some kind of promise to write to one another, but they left while she was stuck in the library with her tutor, teaching her the history behind royal lineage. Multiple times she tried to escape, but after years of Mithian being his student, the tutor knew all of her escape plans and thwarted each and everyone of them. 

Mithian remembers crying herself to sleep that night. She never got to say goodbye.

* * *

The last time she gets to meet Arthur is for their betrothal. It’s a little strange since the last time they met was about thirteen years ago. Not that she has been counting, that is. It’s just something she had thought about while on her way to Camelot. 

Actually, she has thought about a lot of things. Mainly Arthur. Will he even remember her? Mithian has heard rumors, as the years went by, from her handmaidens about Camelot. It was nothing more than marketplace gossip, but sometimes Mithian couldn’t help herself but be curious.

She overheard stories of dragons and trolls. One of her maidens, Cailin, had loudly whispered one afternoon of a griffin raging through Camelot only to be defeated by some unknown knight. Elane, another of her handmaidens, had told of the once pure and lovely Lady Morgana who was corrupted by some sorceress who paraded as a knight. Now this, Mithian did have some previous knowledge of, but she kept that information to herself. Who knows what that piece of info would become after rolling around the rumor mill.

What was odd were the rumors concerning Arthur. Some told of his greatness. He defeated a dragon. He went into the Perilous Lands and came back alive with the old Fisher King’s trident as proof. In times of darkness, he was the light, the beacon for his kingdom when it seemed that Camelot would fall.

It’s a very different image to compare to the scrawny, blond prince Mithian knew years before. As far as she knows, Arthur has definitely grown into a worthy man his kingdom proudly calls their king. In a way, Mithian is a little proud of him herself.

Mithian watches out the carriage window as she sees Camelot’s citadel getting closer by each passing second. Soon, they make it to the gates. When the gate opens, Mithian throws on her veil and sits in her seat, back straight, legs closed, and still as stone.

They arrive at the courtyard, and Mithian can see all the knights flanked and lined up waiting for her. The carriage stops and she holds her breath. This is it. Quietly, Mithian repeats the same mantra her old tutor never tired of teaching her: back straight, legs closed, and still as stone. One of her servants opens her carriage door.Mithian lets out a shaky breath and steps out.

There, at the end of the line, is King Arthur. It’s funny how much thirteen years can do to change a person. He is taller than before, probably taller than her. and he wears chainmail that is accompanied by a ceremonial cape. He looks every bit the king she envisioned and it causes a small flutter in her stomach to grow, but she carries on and continues her walk towards him.

Once reaching him, she unveils her head and smiles.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed it, feel free to leave a kudos and/or a comment!


End file.
